Live above City Hall? Yes, in Loveland (eventually)

Loveland will be demolishing the current city hall and replacing it with a four-story building that will hold the city’s operations, commercial retail and housing.(Photo: Marika Lee/ The Community Press)Buy Photo

To cash in on the increased value of its location, the city of Loveland is building a new city hall and making room for businesses and housing.

Loveland City Council has discussed the future of city hall at its current location a handful of times over the last year. Most of the conversations were about how the property, 208 W. Loveland Ave., was being underutilized.

“In short, ... the repurposing and concomitant redevelopment of the city hall site is a great opportunity to enhance quality of Historic Downtown and increase tax revenues,” Mayor Mark Fitzgerald said.

The plan is for the current city hall building, which was built in the 1970s, to be demolished and replaced with a 40,000-square- foot, four-story building. The first floor will be commercial retail, with the city offices and city council chambers on the second floor. The top two floors will be residential units.

“The majority of the new building will be constructed in the vacant front portion of the city hall property with new parking in the rear. The building’s front setback will be more in line with the other buildings along West Loveland,” City Manager Dave Kennedy said.

City Hall is about 11,000 square feet and has nine full-time employees working in it. It costs about $75,000 annually to maintain, according to the newsletter from the city.

The city worked with McGill Smith Punshon Architects and Engineers to find options for city hall. Though other locations, such as an addition to the Safety Center, were considered, it was determined keeping city hall in its current location was best.

Rob Stansel, an economic development consultant working for the city, said the concept plans have been completed, but the estimated cost and start date for construction has not been determined. The construction is estimated to take two and a half years. Stansel said the next stage of plans and the cost estimate would be available in 60 to 90 days.

Councilman Rob Weisgerber said he supports better utilizing the property, but doesn’t support how the decision was made.

“How do you move forward with this project not knowing the details? The taxpayers have to be made whole and I see nothing that will make that happen. I support rebuilding and better utilizing the property, but there is a lot of work to be done and it will take time,” Weisgerber said.

During construction, the city will lease temporary office space in the former LCS Building at the corner of Cottonwood Drive and Loveland-Madeira Road. LCS outgrew the space and expanded into a larger building outside of Loveland, but still owns the building on Cottonwood, though it might be selling it to another company.

Vice Mayor Angie Settell praised the new plans as are among the most original and creative business decisions the city has made.

“In the end, this plan is the most feasible option in terms of capitalizing on downtown development by adding new commercial businesses, residential units and keeping city hall where many feel it needs to remain, which is downtown,” Kennedy said.

Want to know more about what is happening in Loveland? Follow Marika Lee on Twitter: @ReporterMarika